Grasse: Empire of the Senses

The rose is indelibly associated with the Lancôme brand. That famous rose trademark brings to mind the sublime rose de mai—the pride of the town of Grasse in the Alpes-Maritimes department.

Only a few kilometres from Cannes, Grasse boasts a Mediterranean climate and the perfect geographic position, 400 metres above sea level, to grow one of the most elegant flowers in existence: the rose de mai.
The local pride, it has a more nuanced and much more subtle scent than the traditional rose from Turkey. Thanks to this rose and the jasmine and lavender culture, this little town in the south of France has been, for centuries, the world’s perfume capital.

Grasse’s history remains permanently linked to the well-known fate of Catherine de Médicis. In the middle of the sixteenth century, this queen, known for her taste for luxury, grew weary of Oriental scents. So when she learned about the Provençal Mediterranean and its numerous fragrant flowers, she commissioned her perfumer to transform these wild petals into precious essences.
At the time, Grasse was famous for leather-making. Local essences were used to mask leather’s lingering stench, thus giving rise to the scented glove trade. In time, the glove industry started to wane, so in the middle of the eighteenth century, tanners renounced leather-making to focus solely on perfume. Some years later, Marie-Antoinette developed a similar passion for perfume, thus ensuring the perfumers' success.

Today, Grasse carefully guards its ancestral heritage and the International Perfume Museum recounts the entire history behind the great destinies, seductions, and age-old traditions.

Furthermore, for the real keeners, Grasse has numerous “introduction to aromatherapy” workshops that employ the essential oils from the many local treasures (citrus fruits, lavender, aromatic plants...).

Lastly, this trip into the heart of rose fragrances would not be complete without a stop at the Atelier de la cuisine des fleurs (Cooking with Flowers Workshop). Here, French chef Yves Terrillon offers year-round cooking classes with recipes—as original as they are delicious—that feature violets, rose, or jasmine. Dishes you will later get to enjoy seated around his friendly dinner table.